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Basic Motor Skills of Children With Down Syndrome: Creating a Motor Growth Curve
Peter E M Lauteslager1, M Chiel J M Volman, Timo Lauteslager
1's Heeren Loo (Drs P. Lauteslager and T. Lauteslager and Ms Van den Heuvel), Ermelo, the Netherlands; Department of Pedagogical and Educational Sciences: Cognitive and Motor Disabilities (Dr Volman), Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands; 's Heeren Loo, the Netherlands (Dr T. Lauteslager); Department of Pedagogical and Educational Sciences (Dr Jongerling), Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department Methodology and Statistics (Dr Klugkist), Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Purpose:
To create a motor growth curve based on the Test of Basic Motor Skills for Children with Down Syndrome (BMS) and estimate the age of achieving BMS milestones.
Methods:
A multilevel exponential model was applied to create a motor growth curve based on BMS data from 119 children with Down syndrome (DS) aged 2 months to 5 years. Logistic regression was applied to estimate the 50% probability of achieving BMS milestones.
Results:
The BMS growth curve had the largest increase during infancy with smaller increases as children approached the predicted maximum score. The age at which children with DS have a 50% probability of achieving the milestone sitting was 22 months, for crawling 25 months, and for walking 38 months.
Conclusions:
The creation of a BMS growth curve provides a standardization of the gross motor development of children with DS. Physical therapists then may monitor a child's individual progress and improve clinical decisions.
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